Winter's Ghost
by TaylorSullivan
Summary: A story about Bucky Barnes [Aka The Winter Soldier] and a fictional character that I have role-played as in the past. I was bored and my grandparents house didn't have internet, so I decided to put my muse to some use. I hope someone likes it.
1. Chapter 1

Winter's Ghost

Chapter 1

Ice cold water dripped off of Dora's nose. It was icy cold outside, this winter was particularly bitter. Frost and rain mixed together pelted down on anyone who was stupid enough to be outside right now, even kids had to stay home from school because of the dangerous roads. Only a few people who needed money too much to avoid the inclement weather were outside, running or biking to work. But even with those few, the city seemed completely silent. Like Dora's heart had to be, for her to make this decision. Ever since she had escaped HYDRA, and found her way to Bucky, her best friend, the man who had changed her world completely, she had known that none of it could last forever. But his constant assurances had soothed her fears, for a few months at least. She had done, what her father had always warned her not to do.

She had fallen in love with him.

And she knew that because of this, she had to leave, and forget that any of it had happened. For a while she thought of returning to HYDRA, but the idea of the punishments they would inflict upon her, and the thought of meeting her father again sent a shiver up her spine, she knew that she couldn't do that.

If she went to S.H.I.E.L.D, they'd probably imprison her for her inhuman crimes. True, she deserved it more than Bucky did. He had been forced to do those missions, tortured, memory wiped, it wasn't exactly his choice to commit those atrocities. But for Dora, it had been almost completely of her own will. She wanted to please her father, to be better than The Winter Soldier, to go down in history as the best asset of HYDRA that had ever lived. Every act she'd committed, every innocent she killed, she had known exactly what she was doing.

And now, it tormented her. Haunted her. Dora was a different person now, it made her sick to think that anyone could do that to anyone, but she knew that if she was desperate enough she'd be cable of doing it all again. And that terrified her. She also didn't want to end up locked away with others who hadn't changed, no one in S.H.I.E.L.D would ever understand the effort that it took to escape from HYDRA— the pain and stress that every single one of them had to go through. No one was ever rescued from HYDRA. No one. They had to fight their way out, using every possible way, bearing whatever they must to break free. And once they were out, the night terrors would haunt them for the rest of their lives, waking up sweaty at midnight with the memories playing before their eyes, the blood they'd never be able to wash clean taunting them eternally. Dora shuddered remembering how it felt to rip the tracking device out of the back of her neck, and the look of hatred her father had given her once he saw her, the panicked running through the woods, hoping and praying harder than anything else that they wouldn't find her…

No. Dora didn't deserve prison. No one who went through that deserved prison, or any kind of punishment for the things they'd done. Their minds punished them enough. Being locked away in a little room would just push her over the edge, drive her to insanity if she wasn't already there. And living with Bucky had helped her so much.

But she had to leave. Being with him had caused so much trouble already with his family, let alone with S.H.I.E.L.D, she was just adding to his troubles every day she stayed there with him. She was a Rumlow, her name would drive her away from any and every opportunity here. Sighing softly she pulled a cigarette out of the case that she kept in her pocket. Bucky always told her not to smoke, that it wasn't attractive and it would give her lung cancer. Funny, she'd gotten these out of his pants pocket. Sometimes it was so difficult for people to follow their own advice. Lighting it up she sucked in a deep breath of the smoke, warming herself with the unique taste. Dora stuck it between her lips and shoved her hands in her pockets, walking across the street and on into the misty fog, away from the life she'd built with Bucky, away from the friends she'd made, away from the fears and hopes that were there, into a world that was unknown, where she'd have to better herself on her own, where no one would be trusted, where she was a fugitive, unsafe to others and to herself.

She was on her own.


	2. Chapter 2

Winter's Ghost

Chapter 2

Dora had been missing for several hours. That morning, Bucky had awakened alone, he had no idea where she was, whether HYDRA had found where they lived and whether they were torturing her or— S.H.I.E.L.D beating her for information about where HYDRA bases were. He was worried sick, and called his best friend Steve to try and help find her, he even went out looking for her on his own. But even Bucky, an expert tracker, couldn't tell where she was or how she'd gone. It was almost like she had never existed, like Dora had been nothing more than a dream or a— a ghost.

Returning home in defeat for the tenth or eleventh time he collapsed in a chair downstairs, burying his face in his hands. "God— Dora why?" He muttered, feeling devastated, and disappointed, and worried, a hurricane of emotions stirring in his soul. But the tears wouldn't come. He was too strong, lost to many people in the past to let it show.

The floorboards creaked behind him and he flew out of his seat, fists balled up and ready to fight anyone who had come into his house uninvited. But it wasn't an unwelcome intruder. A voice that sounded velvety and familiar like home spoke.

"Buck, I came as soon as I heard. I'm sorry this happened. Can you tell me anything?"

Steve stepped out from the kitchen, folding his arms as he looked at his friend. Dora was nothing to him, just an emotionally unstable person who had once tried to kill him and then apologized for it the next time she saw him. But he knew how much she meant to Bucky, and he knew that something was happening that she was caught up in. Bucky nodded, his reflexes relaxing as he once again sat down, Steve taking a seat beside him.

"Steve— I don't know how this happened. I don't know who took her— or how I could've stayed asleep while someone came into the house. They must have— drugged me or something. I'm worried about her. So worried." He rocked back and forth nervously thinking of all the possibilities of what could have happened to her. Steve thought for a moment before speaking.

"Is it possible that she could have left of her own will? I mean— she might have felt unwelcome or— I dunno, maybe she felt like it was just time to move on?"

Bucky blinked, trying to understand what his friend had just said.

"You think she dumped me?"

Steve shrugged.

"It's a possibility, but— she probably had another motive. I've seen the way she looks at you, and when you're together— I don't think she'd leave because she didn't like you anymore."

Bucky smiled softly, remembering moments that he and Dora had shared so recently. Then he furrowed his eyebrows.

"She's been more distant lately, to me and to everyone else. There was a— misunderstanding with some of my family members. And she took some of the things they said about her really personally. It wasn't fun but I thought that she'd get over it, you know?"

Steve nodded, resting his hand on his chin as he continued to think.

"Did she say anything unusual to you recently? Something— I don't know like— about leaving or— not being able to stay much longer."

Suddenly it was like a forgotten memory had been triggered in Bucky's mind, it immediately snapped to the forefront.

"Oh— no no no no…" He jumped up and started pacing. "About three days ago, I overheard her talking to herself about— nothing lasting forever, saying something about useless, didn't belong here. Making things worse. She could have left because she felt like— she was making my situation worse." He sighed and folded his arms, the weight of losing her getting heavier and heavier every moment.

"Sounds like she might be going back to HYDRA, or worse. I'll see what I can do. You just stay safe and— don't get into trouble, okay?"

Bucky nodded, not making eye contact with Steve, who placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure she'll be fine. Remember, Dora always took care of herself before she met you." Bucky chuckled lightly, remembering how close she had been to death when she finally called him that night.

"Okay Steve. Thank you." Hugging Steve closely he closed his terrified eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Winter's Ghost

Chapter 3

It had been four days since she'd left New York, and Bucky. Dora was actually doing, physically, pretty well for someone who was homeless, friendless and getting little work or food. But every night she stayed up, trying to chase away the nightmares, and worse than the nightmares the dreams about Bucky that she kept having. She missed him so much, and although she knew that eventually both he and she would get over it and move on, she couldn't deny the fact that sometimes she desperately wished she hadn't gone and that he'd be there to hold her and never let her go.

But this had been her choice, and she was following through with it.

Her thick black wool coat blocked out most of the cold, but she still wanted to find a place where she could warm up temporarily before heading out again. Dora didn't know where her destination would be, or where she'd end up, but she knew that as long as she kept moving, neither HYDRA or S.H.I.E.L.D could keep up with her, and that was all that she was worried about. Two monstrous entities trying to hunt her down, a lone wolf in a great big world. But a dangerous one as well, and not easily caught.

Soon enough she saw a small pub on a street corner that looked welcoming enough. The fog had died down somewhat, enough for her to be able to see how many cars were in the lot, and whether or not there were police nearby. Fortunately there weren't and she quickened her pace, slipping inside before anyone who might be watching her could see.

It was a smoky little room, it smelled like men who liked cigars and yeast from the beer. The place was full, but not overcrowded, and Dora made her way up to the bar, waiting for service. An older man who was balding looked over at her, eyeing her up and down.

"Not from around these parts, are you?" He asked, pulling his stool closer to her. Dora swallowed nervously, not sure she was ready for interaction with people yet. Normally she'd have Bucky to help her with this. But she was alone this time.

"No, sir I came from New York."

"And what might a pretty little thing like you be doing out here? Surely you didn't run away from— parents."

She blushed heavily, knowing that she looked younger than nineteen, and the way the man addressed her made her extremely nervous. Suddenly she felt chills running up and down her spine and she knew she had to get out of there as soon as possible.

"No, I'm just trying to find a fresh start outside of the city." Was her only reply. She ordered a small glass of whiskey and drank it quickly, leaving the building as fast as possible before anyone else could ask her questions or talk to her. The people were too friendly, they didn't mind their own business enough. For all she knew anyone could be a HYDRA agent, or a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, and she as a fugitive couldn't be careful enough.

Perhaps leaving the country was the only option for her.

After she left the building, she walked calmly away until she was out of sight of the small town, and then broke into a run, speeding away as fast as she could from humans, trying to get towards the country and head north towards Canada. There were a few dead leaves left hanging on the ice covered trees, Dora knew that she'd need to find a place to live before the heavy snows came, or she'd be screwed. If only she could find someone to help her.

Someone who didn't have ulterior motives, that is.

The sound of a heavy vehicle broke her train of thought as Dora dived behind the bushes beside the road, getting out of sight of the oncoming vehicle. As it came into sight, Dora knew this was no ordinary truck. It was black, and heavily armored. Not military, she knew military when she saw it. And it wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D, they always marked theirs with the eagle symbol. As the truck moved on, Dora decided to follow it to see where it was going, who owned it, and even more importantly— what was inside of it.


	4. Chapter 4

Winter's Ghost

Chapter 4

"I— I love you so much Dora," Bucky muttered as he kissed her again, moving both his hands beneath her shirt, feeling her skin tremble with excitement beneath his fingertips, fuck he wanted her so bad, he had to restrain himself in order to be gentle with her. He wanted her all day long, every day all he could think about was her. And she wanted him too, which made it a million times better. Fireworks were going off inside of his brain, Dora was running her slender fingers through his shoulder length hair— she had no idea how much that drove him crazy. He needed her, just her and no one else. Bucky could feel himself throbbing in arousal, Dora pulled him down on top of her onto the bed and pulled up her legs so he was in between. He groaned softly, ripping off his clothes at lightning speed, his bare chest brushing against her own skin, he needed to get closer to her, he needed to have her again, tonight. He felt her hands clutching onto his strong shoulders, looked into her deep hazel eyes and kissed her again. God, he could never get enough of her. He wanted this to go on for eternity. Pushing himself into her he thrust deeply and slowly, her moans making him go harder and faster as his hands groped her body, feeling every part of her, memorizing her. "Don't be afraid to hurt me, Bucky—" she whimpered, her body sweaty and writhing in pleasure beneath him. Her moans, her screams of ecstasy, and satisfaction, the way she cried his name as he found her weakest spot and sent her body into a release— oh, it was his fantasy. Lying down next to her as she tried to catch her breath, Bucky locked his arms around her exposed body, he would never let go. "Promise me, Dora, that you'll never leave me," he murmured with his last ounce of strength. "I will never leave you, Bucky. I love you too much. If I lost you— I'd— I'd go insane. I can't lose you." She propped herself up with one elbow and looked into his eyes, running one hand through his hair. "I promise." Closing his eyes in contentment, he drifted off to sleep, his last memory that of Dora's soft lips brushing against his own.

Jerking up out of bed, Bucky snapped out of the feverish dream he'd drifted into once more. Fuck, these were almost worse than the night terrors he'd had before Dora had left. He couldn't get her out of his head, he had a life with new problems and struggles but he missed her so damn much. And he knew that these would plague him until he found her again. Dora had been everything to him, and not knowing where she was or what she was doing, well it was about to drive him fucking crazy. Especially at night, when the business of daytime had died down and he didn't have tasks to keep his mind occupied and off of her. Steve was doing his best to help, especially those quiet times when Bucky wasn't very responsive, he knew what his pal was thinking about.

Grumbling and getting up out of bed, ripping the covers aside Bucky grabbed his clothes. He knew that it still wasn't safe for him to go outside on his own, but he had to do something to get out of this house, haunted with the ghosts of memories of all the times he'd spent with Dora during their short lived but passionate episode.

A light snow had fallen outside, his breath made puffy white clouds in the sky, figures that danced away into nothingness. A dog was barking in the distance, a few people wandered here and there around the somewhat busy street. Bucky kept walking for a while, immersed deep in thought, not just Dora but everything else. He knew that his conversation with her, she'd been right. Everything was temporary, nothing could last forever. Not even this pain. Not even him missing her. Not even S.H.I.E.L.D's issue with him. The only thing that would last were the memories, and not even those if HYDRA got him in their clutches. He kicked a piece of trash off of the sidewalk and out of his way as he thought. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, another memory wipe. To get rid of Dora. Maybe, maybe she had left him because she didn't love him. Maybe she'd found someone else. Maybe—

He had to stop thinking or he'd go insane. The only way to find out anything about Dora was if he found her. He needed to work this out as soon as possible. It wasn't enough to just— read the list of dead people found in the river every day or try and find her in the homeless shelters. He still loved her, he was going to find her. And fight for her, even if he had to fight her for the truth.


	5. Chapter 5

Winter's Ghost

Chapter 5

 _Don't ever stop running, or fighting, or doing whatever the fuck you have to do to reach your goal. If you quit, and you're still alive, you failed. Never forget that._ Dora remembered her fathers words to her as she ran behind the truck, trying to catch up with it and jump onto the back. It was going pretty fast, faster than the speed limit, the driver probably had a schedule to keep and was running out of time. Either way, it was gonna be tough to get on there without them seeing her. She got a yard closer, and another yard closer. She was now about six feet away from the back of the truck, a couple more feet and she'd be able to grab onto the back. Paying close attention even though it was starting to get darker outside, she pushed herself harder and made it close enough so her hands could latch onto the sidebar on the back of the vehicle. Lifting the rest of her body quickly her boots almost slipped off of the tiny ledge, ripping her grip on the truck, but she held on as tightly as she could until the car stopped lurching so much. Now to find the way of getting inside. There was a latch on the doors, it looked pretty difficult to open but she could probably do it, if she was careful enough. Reaching out, but still not letting go of her position on the handle, she grabbed the latch and pulled it towards her, the door closest to her swinging out and almost knocking her off of the truck. She jumped onto it, clinging closely as it swung back towards its original position and flung her into the truck itself.

Mission accomplished.

The door swayed slightly behind her, but it wasn't making a whole lot of noise, or even seeming to cause a distraction for the driver so Dora left it alone as she rose to her feet slowly, making sure to try and keep her balance as the vehicle swayed and jerked back and forth. Looking around at the boxes inside of here, it took her eyes a moment to adjust, but once they did, she staggered backwards in shock and alarm. Red labels were pasted all over the boxes and crates, warning that they were radioactive, deadly, not to touch them, and, most terrifying of all, the skull with the octopus body was painted onto every single one of them.

This was HYDRA property. These were full of some kind of chemical, a poison perhaps, and wherever they were taking it, they meant no good. This truck had to be stopped, and someone very important had to be contacted. But then Dora remembered that she was a fugitive. She couldn't just— call the police and tell them that there was a truck full of highly dangerous material being carted around to who knows where, owned by a terrorist organization that she'd once been a part of. They were looking for her, and she wasn't stupid enough to walk into that.

No, she would have to deal with this herself.

Sinking to her knees in disbelief and trying not to panic, she tried to pull her thoughts together, not letting her excitement get the better of her. She had to get control of the vehicle, and get it away from civilization. Taking out the driver was the first step, and then she'd think about it from there. There was a way to get out of everything. There was a way to get out of this, too. Climbing back out of the truck and holding onto the side as best as she could, slowly Dora was able to scoot her way towards where the driver was, more quickly as she got more sure of herself. The driver, an older overweight man wasn't paying attention and didn't see her until she was right at his open window, at which point she punched him, but he wasn't that easy to knock out. The look of panic on his face told Dora exactly what was about to happen, he couldn't risk her stopping him, he couldn't risk being caught. And he couldn't risk her being alive after seeing his face associated with the contents of this truck. Before she could grab her gun and kill him, he quickly veered off the road towards a steep drop off, the truck bumping over the grass and tumbling down, rolling over and over again. It all happened so quickly that Dora wasn't able to let go and jump off, she ended up sandwiched between the car and the ground as it kept keeling headlong towards the river at the bottom of the slope. Finally, the heavily damaged vehicle ceased to plunge downwards and hit the ground hard before silently stopping. Fortunately, Dora was able to slip out from underneath it fairly easily, even though she was badly hurt from the fall. The driver had accomplished his goal, the man was definitely dead, his head bashed in and blood flowing down onto the windshield. Dora stumbled towards the back of the truck, noticing some of the crates had fallen out. This wasn't good, they were probably spilling whatever was inside and it would start to affect people in the area. She grabbed one of the boxes, a sharp pain in her ribs stabbing her lungs and stealing her breath from her.

Fuck.

Doing the best she could she loaded the boxes back into the truck. That was when she finally noticed the hissing noise, only because it was getting louder. It sounded like a cross between a snake an a machine, Dora assumed it was the engine of the truck. And— it was about to blow up. Diving behind a big tree, she crossed her fingers and prayed this was not how she would go out.

The ground shook as a deafening crack ripped through the air. The tree Dora had fled to for protection toppled down. She lay paralyzed on the leafy carpet, not able to move, not able to breathe as the ashes began to fall onto her, flames burning into her face. They didn't hurt, funny thing. For the last time she thought of Bucky, and hoped he was okay. This was the end.

Goodbye, world.


	6. Chapter 6

Winter's Ghost

Chapter 6

The sun was finally shining in New York city. It had taken about a week of dull, rainy and cold days but now the decent part of autumn was beginning. Bucky sat silently at the front of a cafe that he frequented pretty often, leering out of the window at all the passersby. Things had started to heat up in these past few days, the tension between his best friend Steve and the famous billionaire Tony Stark becoming more and more evident as more time went by. And Bucky knew that it was his fault it was happening, if he wasn't there Steve would probably have no issue with the registration act. Maybe this was how Dora had felt about him, that she was making all his problems worse by her presence. Dora. His heart skipped a beat remembering the dream that had haunted him last night. If anyone could help him now, she could. But, she wasn't there anymore. So he had to deal with his problems on his own.

The phone on the table in front of him rang, it was Steve. Immediately he picked it up, walking outside to talk to him.

"Hey man what's up?" He answered, praying that something else with Stark hadn't occurred.

"Bucky, the police and private detective that I've been working with on your case have finally come across something. I sent you the documentation and pictures, you should check it out. I think it may answer some things. And by the way, it is Dora. They verified the DNA."

Click. His heart was in his throat with nervousness as he checked his email and text messages. Pictures of a car crash in a ravine, the area around it was burned pretty badly. There were streaks of blood on the side of the charred vehicle, Bucky's palms were sweating. Oh God— she couldn't be dead. Not Dora.

Dead body identified as an ex-convict in the driver's seat, assuming from the symbol stamped all over the truck he was definitely a HYDRA employee of some kind, but obviously disposable, seeing as no one had taken the trouble of finding the dude by now.

More files on the chemical that the crates contained, it was a serum that hadn't yet been tested, probably for human experimentation, the police were too scared to touch it until experts came in and verified what it was. But more than likely, it would turn humans into utter monsters. No one knew where the truck had been headed, perhaps the liquid was to be used in a city experiment, leaking it into the water supply to see what would happen. Bucky knew that HYDRA was capable of that kind of inhuman bullshit, and it was viable, there was enough serum in there to treat an army with whatever it was.

A few moments later a video arrived in his inbox, he opened it and started watching.

The police were at the scene, yellow tape everywhere, they were all careful and reluctant to move around. The camera was somewhat shaky as whoever was holding it stepped over logs and branches fallen on the ground because of the explosion. Another policeman, in front of the guy with the camera was in the process of moving a tree aside when he suddenly dropped it, exclaiming in surprise.

"OH SHIT!"

"Donny, what is it? Dude, talk to me!"

The first guy had his hand covered with his face as the cameraman rushed upon him and turned the camera on the scene.

"Fuck— what is this?"

What looked like a body, it was covered in blood, blood and— something else bluish grey oozed over it. The person underneath— for it was a person, twitched slightly, they were still breathing it seemed. But whatever else was happening here was obviously unnatural.

"Get the Sergeant. Donny go— fast!"

The camera shut off unexpectedly.

Bucky clapped his hand over his mouth and tried to breathe calmly as he realized that Steve had meant— that— _thing_ was Dora. What had they done to her?

His hands were shaking as he typed in Steve's number to call him back.

"Steve, can I get into the place to see her?"

"Bucky— I don't know. You shouldn't be going anywhere near the police right now and you know that."

"But— I have to see her. Please, Steve."

Steve audibly sighed.

"I'll find a way. Maybe I can tell them you're my cousin or something. I don't know. I'll pick you up in about fifteen minutes, okay?"

Bucky nodded, forgetting Steve couldn't hear that on the other end. Ending the call he sat down on a bench outside of the cafe and stared at the pictures of the marred body that Steve had sent him. This was like an awful nightmare, and it was happening to Dora. If only he'd been able to keep her safe.

In a little while Steve's car drove up and Bucky hopped in.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, Buck?"

He nodded.

"I promised myself I'd find her. Even if it means— I have to watch her die, or turn into something so much worse."

"Okay then. Just remember you said that."

And they drove towards the police station.


	7. Chapter 7

Winter's Ghost

Chapter 7

Icy fingers pierced Dora's brain, pulling it apart, as it seemed, tearing her apart to find her weaknesses and skewer that one point. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, she felt on fire but frozen solid at the same time. She was shaking, couldn't stop trembling, whether in paranoia and terror of what was happening to her or genuinely in pain and losing control of herself.

It was the stuff in those damn crates, she was one hundred percent sure of that. It could be killing her right now, for all she knew, or transforming her into something absolutely terrible. If she did, she prayed that someone would have the decency to kill her and end it before she destroyed more humans.

Everything hurt so awfully.

Dora didn't know where she was, either it was very dark or she was still where the truck had landed, perhaps the serum had blinded her. Shit, not exactly what she'd expected. Blind? Really? Pfft…HYDRA couldn't even come up with something more exciting than that?

But no, she wasn't blind. There was a blanket on top of her and she was lying on something with padding. Someone had obviously found the scene.

Of course they had. That explosion would have been seen for miles and heard for even more. She should have gotten out of there as soon as she'd been able to wriggle out from underneath the wreck, but she knew she hadn't been able to do that then. It would have been impossible to get far, anyway, and the police would easily have been able to track her bloody footprints through the woods. Even though her head was throbbing like hell, she managed to sit up and pull the blanket off of the top of her, and looked around the dim area where she'd been placed.

It was a small room, grey walls, no other furniture but the hospital bed she'd been placed on. But this wasn't a hospital, more than likely this was the police station, and they were just waiting for experts to arrive to examine her situation. Funny, they hadn't handcuffed her to the bed. Perhaps they'd been afraid of touching her contaminated skin. Looking down at her flesh, it looked burned, discolored with blue and purple, her skin had an iridescent sheen to it. Perhaps they hadn't cleaned all of the liquid off of it, at least, that's what Dora hoped. Slipping off of the bed and onto the floor, she was barefoot and the cold cement ground felt like it was burning into the bottom of her feet. Quickly she yelped and hopped back onto the bed. There was something _really_ wrong with her right now. But it couldn't stop her from getting away. Gritting her teeth and bracing herself for what she knew she had to do, she placed her feet on the floor, one at a time and started to walk towards the door. Every movement she made was torture, burning then freezing then burning again. Whoever had created this serum had been— awful. The door was unlocked, thankfully, and Dora did her best to quietly open it, even though the hinges were in terrible condition. Her fingers were twitching, in pain like the rest of her body. Stabbing pains in her ribs reminded her of her already bad injuries from the car crash, the rest of her ached and felt like she was carrying another body as well as her own. The hallway in front of her was empty, she shuffled like a zombie through it towards a door that said "EXIT" on it. Hopefully she'd be able to get out without setting off any alarms, and if it was really that bad, she could die on her own. She could her muffled voices coming from the front of the building, someone sounded angry, and then footsteps. Turning her attention back to the door she saw that she'd have to punch in a verification code on the dial next to it in order to get out.

Shit.

The footsteps were coming closer, she dialed in four random numbers.

5-2-9-1.

Wrong. It glowed red twice.

Clicking of heels on the floor, Dora frantically typed in four more, once again wrong. Fuck, she'd have to fight her way out of this one. With her back to the door, she balled up her fists and prepared as best as she could to fight whoever came around the corner.

He came into view and their eyes locked. Dora blinked in unbelief, letting her hands fall to her sides.

"Bucky? What— the fuck are you doing here?"

Her voice lacked emotion, it was shallow and toneless.

"I came to find you, Dora. I've been worried sick about you!" Were those tears in his eyes?

She tried to swallow, but it hurt to much, her mouth didn't feel right as she spoke.

"I couldn't stay Bucky, I was making things harder for you. I thought it would be for the best, I'm sorry. I screwed up and I'm a fucked up mess without you." Searing salt water dripped down her cheeks as she eked out the words to say. A hint of a smile was visible on his face as he rushed forward to grab her in his arms but she shrunk away and protested.

"NO! You can't touch me!"

It was his turn to be shocked.

"Dora, what do you mean, what's wrong?"

"Bucky, you can't touch me or be near me. You have to leave— right now. I'm contaminated."


	8. Chapter 8

Winter's Ghost

Chapter 8

Bucky blinked, trying to comprehend what Dora had just uttered. He knew that there'd been something off about the whole situation with the truck, and he'd expected her to look much worse after seeing the photos that Steve had sent him, but— what did she mean by contaminated? Maybe the serum in the crates was affecting her somehow, but surely it wouldn't hurt him as well. And he had to hold her again, make her feel safe. Standing about two yards away from her, he kneeled down so he could be on her level as she cowered in the corner.

"I won't— I won't touch you, Dora. You're gonna be okay, me and Steve came to get you out of here, but we have to leave right now. The police aren't very happy about us barging in. I promise you that you'll be okay, and I won't be affected as long as— I dunno you're wrapped up in something. I'm gonna keep you safe, okay?" His words seemed to reassure her somewhat and she nodded in agreement. The blanket from her bed was still hanging halfway off of her shoulder and she fumbled with it to pull it around her tightly, getting up and walking towards Bucky. He stood up and grabbed her, pulling her close to him, holding her head to his chest. Dora was past the point of being able to struggle, so she just let him, crying silently and closing her eyes.

"I am _never_ , _ever_ letting you go again." He whispered, choked up with tears as well. She obviously wasn't strong enough to walk so he picked her up, princess style, quickly walking out of the building the way he came and towards Steve's car that was waiting out front. Bucky got in the back seat, still holding onto Dora tightly.

"Well that went faster than I expected it to," Steve remarked as he started the car and began to drive towards a new hideout for Bucky.

"She wasn't able to put up a fight, there's something terribly wrong with her. I don't know what it is but I need to find out."

Bucky stroked her face softly as she lost consciousness in his arms. Now he was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, after the long and stressful days. She still loved him, and he had her there with him. No matter what happened he wasn't going to let her go, not this time.

After Steve dropped them off, Bucky grabbed Dora and a couple of bags that he'd brought and headed inside quickly, she was shivering and she needed rest desperately, and God knows what else. Putting her down on the bed, he ran into the bathroom to wash his hands and then walked back out. Dora was awake now, standing up and looking into the mirror in a very curious way.

"Baby, what seems to be the problem? You need to lay down, get some rest. Okay?"

She merely shook her head, continuing to look at her reflection. Bucky paused with the towel in his hands, feeling like something extremely odd was occurring.

"Dora, honey—"

She cut him off.

"Bucky, look at me. Look at me right now and tell me that everything is okay." She turned towards him and looked him directly in the eyes. At first, everything seemed perfectly normal. But then Bucky realized what she meant. The skin on her face became transparent, her bones seeming like mere shadows as her body faded into nothingness and then returned in the blink of an eye.

"What the _fuck_?"

He exclaimed, stepping forward and grabbing her hand, looking into her eyes and trying to make sense of it all.

"Did that serum shit do this to you? Are you— dying?"

Dora rolled her eyes and blinked at him.

"Don't be stupid. If it were going to kill me, it would have done it by now. But it's doing something strange to me, and I feel like it's not done yet. Bucky, promise me something."

He nodded, listening closely to everything she said.

"If I start turning into a human-killing monster, promise me that you'll kill me before I hurt anyone."

Bucky's throat immediately tightened, not sure he could promise that. Even if Dora became someone who wasn't Dora anymore, could he really murder the creature that had once been her, no matter what the hell it was doing to humanity? But he nodded, the last thing she needed right now was him arguing with her. They had to work this out together. He'd pin her down, tie her up if she started going off the deep end.

That didn't sound too bad, either.

Not bothering to be cautious about her skin, and anything that might happen to him, Bucky pulled her closer to himself, running his fingers through her matted honey-colored hair. He had no intention of staying away from her as long as she was still herself, and once she'd had enough time to rest, he wanted to spend more time with her, talk about the reasons why she left.

But now wasn't the time to talk about that. She was fading into and out of reality at random times, and that wasn't healthy at all, whatever it was. Even as he thought, she disappeared out of his arms again for at least ten seconds, then reappeared before he could freak out too badly.

Yeah, things were starting to get pretty freaky.


End file.
